Happy Halloween!!! Or I guess, happy a couple days after Halloween. Whatever, as far as we’re concerned we’re still squarely in the domain of “spooky season” and one of the spookiest things we could think to talk about was Stephen King. Actually, we’ve done this once before. Way back on show #81, we talked about…
Tag: tv
e443. Revisiting Hillman: Bridging the Generations of A Different World
Thirty-nine years ago, NBC debuted the sitcom A Different World. Originally a spin-off of the The Cosby Show, following Lisa Bonet’s Denise Huxtable characters, the show slowly evolved into an ensemble program that chronicled life at the fictional HBCU Hillman University for six seasons. Two weeks ago, the show returned as a Netflix dramedy that…
e442. Is Classic TV Dead? The Evolution of Viewing in the Streaming Age
Once upon a time TV was the centerpiece of the American monoculture. But that time is over. Gone are the days where there were three TV channels and it has been replaced by an endless array of streaming options. Is it better? Yes, probably, but has anything been lost? Actually, probably a lot. On this…
e441. In Blackest Night: a Deep Dive into the World of Lanterns
Are you watching Lanterns? Ratings and critical response imply that you very well might be. Which is why we’re talking about ti again. If you’re wondering “wait, didn’t you do this before?” Well, yes and no! We did have an episode about the Green Lanterns a few weeks ago where we talked about the history…
e439. Legal Dramas and Pop Culture: Unpacking Courtroom Fantasies
Something occurred to us last week with the release of the very funny Coyote vs. Acme. There sure are a lot of movies, TV shows, and other properties that star lawyers. In fact, it seems like it’s one of pop cultures favorite professions. Why is that? Obviously, it can be an interesting job, but so…
e438. Vertical MicroDramas: Fad or the Dawning of a New Age?
Have you ever seen those ads for those over the top melodramatic drama movies on TikTok or Facebook or Instagram Reels or Youtube shorts? And by ads, we mean basically… 2-5 minutes of the movie in an attempt to hook you into watching the rest of it? If you have, did you click on it?…
e437. In Brightest Day: The History and Popularity of Green Lantern
Every once in a while an adaptation property really surprises us by capturing the cultural zeitgeist far more than its source material would imply that it should. That seems to be the case with the TV show Lanterns. For comic book fans, this always looked interesting — an unlikely buddy cop period drama in the…
e436. Robotic Dreams and Digital Nightmares: Is A.I the Monster… or the Mirror?
Obviously, Artificial Intelligence has been a big topic in the news of late. But in the world of pop culture, it really isn’t anything new. A.I. has been a huge theme in literature in one way or another for essentially the last century if not longer. As long as we have dreamed of creating life,…
e431. Henchmen, Heavies, Minions & Muscle: Narrative Dynamics of the Hired Goon
Behind every great villain is… frankly, well, often there’s another bigger villain pulling the strings. But the truth is, while we often celebrate “the big bad” some of the most interesting villainy comes from the lieutenants that the hero meets along the way to facing the big bad. Sometimes, these henchmen might even eclipse the…
e429. Out of this World: Alien Archetypes in Pop Culture
Aliens are one of the most enduring concepts in popular culture. It makes sense really. If we know there are other planets then it stands to reason that we might wonder what’s on them. There’s no shortage of books, films, TV shows and video games that explore this. So it’s kind of weird that we…